Surveillance has now been set up at 30 locations throughout Denmark to prevent stone-throwing from bridges. One of them ended up in Fredericia.
It can not have passed many noses that during this week a rather high, red mast has appeared - filled with solar cells and a mill on top - up on Snoghøj Landevej. Now the company behind monitoring solutions can tell that it is they who have mounted the mast.
It is for bridge protection against stone throwing, says Lasse Østergaard, founder of Site Security, which is based in Esbjerg.
Site Security is collaborating with the police to set up surveillance cameras on bridges - but the founder does not want to say how many they have provided.
In November 2017, it was announced by the Minister of Justice, Søren Pape Poulsen (K), that the police should in future have the opportunity to monitor 30 sections - those that are most exposed. He also told DR News that it should be cameras that could be moved, so the police had the opportunity to set them up after assessment. And just such a one is located on Snoghøj Landevej.
Exactly the model is called Zero, and Lasse Østergaard does not want to say what such a monitoring mast runs up of crowns and ears, but he himself says that they "are not particularly expensive".
The model that has been set up in Erritsø by Fynske Motorvej is even a green one of a kind. The mast lives on the sun's rays and the wind. It constantly monitors, but Lasse Østergaard will not comment on who has access to the monitoring.
My personal position is that it is smart to have equipment that can be moved around the country, and this model can, because it is mobile and does not require power, says Lasse Østergaard.
It was on Tuesday that it was set up, and it only took a few hours to get the monitoring model installed.
On Thursday, the National Police, which is responsible for getting the 30 cameras set up, said in a press release that they were now all in place.
On Snoghøj Landevej, a sign has also been installed shortly before the mast, informing motorists that there is monitoring further ahead. According to the press release, hidden cameras have also been set up on bridges - for preventive reasons - where there is no signage either.
We have unfortunately seen examples of stones or other things being thrown at cars from motorway bridges. We hope that the cameras will deter people from doing something so thoughtless, and should it happen anyway, we will hopefully have better cards on hand to investigate the case and apprehend the perpetrators, says Niels Kristoffersen, police commissioner from the National Police National Investigation Center.
The latest stone-throwing, where two cars were hit, happened on Thursday evening at Horsens Syd, exit 56. It was two cars in northbound and southbound lanes, respectively, that were hit by stones. No one was injured in the stone-throwing, but police subsequently closed the highway for a period of time to search the area.
The National Police does not wish to disclose how large a part of the 30 surveys that have been set up in the South East Jutland police district, "for operational reasons".